Residency Programs

Residency programs are extended encounters with dance and are inspired by curricular themes and topics currently being explored by the students and teachers. Residencies may be as few as four in-school visits or as many as you would like! All residencies are taught by professional teaching artists with backgrounds in dance and arts integration. Each residency is tailored to the needs of individual classrooms and schools and aligns with PDE Academic Standards and national standards for dance and the arts.

PBT in Pittsburgh Public Schools

Creative Movement Residency Program

Since 1997, PBT has partnered with Pittsburgh Public Schools and other districts in the regions to provide Creative Movement Residency programs to young elementary children. Creative Movement provides creative dance classes for students in Grades 1 and 2, and offers opportunities for theater attendance to Grade 3. A PBT teacher and accompanist, team-teaching with a classroom teacher, provide a nine-week movement experience for students, reinforced by activities in the classroom. The Creative Movement Residency program regularly reaches more than 350 students a year.

Current schools in the Creative Movement Residency program:

Pittsburgh Manchester Elementary

Pittsburgh Concord Elementary

Pittsburgh Sunnyside Elementary

Big Beaver Falls Elementary

Preschool Creative Movement Residency Program

The Preschool Creative Movement Residency program was piloted in 2007-2008 in collaboration with the Early Childhood Education Department in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. A Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre teacher, along with a percussion accompanist, works in collaboration with PPS teachers to provide sequential Creative Movement classes for Pre-K students at specific sites throughout the City schools. The residency focuses dually on professional development for the teacher as well as building self-regulation and kinethetic learning for the students. The residency also includes special performance experiences, including an In Step instructional performance for each participating classroom, and a new family engagement event, "The Barnyard Dance Party," beginning in the fall of 2013.

In the 2013-14 school year, the Preschool Creative Movement Residency program served 361 students, 44 teachers, and more than 80 of their family members at the following sites:

Crescent Early Childhood Center

Peabody Early Childhood Center

Pittsburgh Fulton PreK

Pittsburgh Conroy PreK

Pittsburgh King PreK

Pittsburgh Morrow PreK

Pittsburgh Manchester PreK

Feedback: “I very much enjoyed the program. Students learned movement that they would otherwise not know. The instructor was very good with managing behavior and made children accountable for learning the content. I would welcome this program again!” ~Rebecca Mattie, Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Education

Feedback: “One of the little boys was very stand offish about the whole program. Then one day he saw the other children having so much fun that when we looked up he was the first person in line!” ~Shawn Peeks, formerly of Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Education

Past sites for the Preschool Creative Movement Residency program have included: